Lessons from floods: What's missing from textbooks?

Following criticism from foreign media – mainly from Europe where over 6 million Jews were exterminated under Hitler’s order – there was an investigation. It turned out the students had only slight education about the Holocaust. In our textbooks, there is little information about it. No surprise then that Hitler was portrayed as a hero by the students. It sparked a question on how influential is Thailand in the global society when its citizens know so little about the history of others. 

The concern is international knowledge. On the national scale, the current disastrous floods are exposing another fact – Thais know and care so little about geography. 

Villagers do not understand how changing geographical landscape can affect their daily activities. They encroach on forests to support their own families, without knowing such action could lead to mud and landslides and flash floods. That is not surprising, though, given that most barely finished Grade 6 and have little interest or time to gain more knowledge from a few public libraries.

 

POOR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT GEOGRAPHY

What is surprising is that city dwellers, most of whom gain bachelor degrees, know so little about the geography of their provinces and their country. But at the same time they can spend day and night on-line searching out the features of a new gadget or update themselves on their friends’ status. Most shrugged when the north of Thailand witnessed storms and heavy rainfall in July. Only now have they learned that all the water that could not be diverted elsewhere is hitting Bangkok’s lower plain. That is the rule of gravity. 

Most just woke up when the water reached Bangkok. Having little knowledge, they are bewildered by the floods and scramble for |solutions which are not logical. Some asked |if the water could be diverted to a dry place |like Nakhon Ratchasima, the province which is 187 metres above sea level, against Bangkok’s 3 metres. 

Few know how the water from the north is diverted to the sea. The Chao Phraya River is their only answer and they have no idea on the functioning of the Tha Chin and Bang Pakong rivers which are connected with many canals–in diverting water to the east and west of Bangkok. Without this knowledge, they were satisfied with the flood barriers, which could not forever block massive waters and would create havoc with a deluge like that Bang Bua Thong residents witnessed. 

 

WHAT’S LACKING

Poor knowledge in history and geography could be attributed to poor textbooks and teaching methods. 

For decades, history and geography have been bundled into a single subject during the planning for what they are to learn in the coming years. If Hitler’s history is to be taught in Grade 9, those dropping out while in Grade 8 will never know about his cruelty. 

Concerning geography, students are taught about major rivers but they never know about their capacity. They are never challenged to answer how the rivers should be used to cope in a storm year like this, something that will require calculation. Mostly, they are taught to recite facts like the number of provinces, famous tourist destinations and most-found minerals. They are not challenged to think how their daily activities could be adapted to make a better use of geography. 

The result is nobody cares about city planning. They don’t care or lack knowledge if their construction is blocking floodways. They leave that in the hands of civil servants.

Our kids are not yet taught how our nation coped with the floods in 1995 – the second biggest since 1942. Perhaps, it’s not too late to teach them how we handled the 2011 flood, asking at the same time, if it were they who were in control, how this catastrophe could have been prevented..

 

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA

THE NATION

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